


kintsugi

by pepperinks



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-16
Updated: 2018-01-16
Packaged: 2019-03-05 11:40:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 791
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13387059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pepperinks/pseuds/pepperinks
Summary: Easy is nothing, and Virginia Potts doesn’t do nothing.





	kintsugi

**Author's Note:**

> 金継ぎ kintsugi—Treating breakage and repair as part of the history of an object, rather than something to disguise.

Nobody said this was going to be easy. Anything involving Tony Stark had no business being anywhere _near_  easy, but it wasn’t for the lack of trying. 

See, Pepper doesn’t settle for easy. Easy is for lazy people. Easy is for amateurs that don’t have a clue as to what the fuck they’re doing, that aren’t driven enough to constantly fight and improve in a bid to become the best and bring their loved ones along for the ride too. 

 

Easy is nothing, and Virginia Potts doesn’t do nothing.

 

Tony Stark was probably one of the hardest people she’s ever had to deal with in her entire 35 years of existence. He had 99 problems(and counting) and every single one had been solved by her in one way or the other and by god, was she proud of that. The media thrived off his nonsense like a fat-bellied tyrant before she came along, before he spotted her catching that multi-million dollar accounting error and whisked her away for his own selfish wants(because let’s face it, who doesn’t want a hot redhead in fuck-me heels to be their PA?) and once she took up that role and made it her own in every way, the media was like a neglected pet, starving for the morsel that she throws them every now and then. 

Afghanistan happened after ten years of fighting tooth and nail to reign Tony’s drunk, philandering ass in and even the death of her father didn’t come close to the devastation she feels. All those years of hard work, slogging and trying to make something of a man that brings chaos, destruction and heartbreak in his wake and he disappears(the blame can’t be put on him but still) into nothingness, leaving her bereft and lost. 

She tells herself that it was nothing, that Tony’s off on one of his weird jaunts and will probably come back sooner or later but three months go by and the day she tells herself to stop moping and find a new place of work is the day Rhodey calls, breathless and elated.

 

“ _We’ve got ‘em, Potts. We’re on our way home._ ”

 

Pepper waited as she’d always done, red eyed and looking as though a gust of wind would sooner topple her right over the tarmac itself. She’s lost weight and it looked like he did as well(of course), but nothing save for quiet pleasantries were exchanged before things go back to their regular schedule, or as regular as this new version of Tony could be.

He came back a broken man but a better one too. There were no more women she had to escort out in the early mornings, no lacy underwear and discarded clothes to pick off the floor and certainly no used condoms to be disposed of. The only habit of his that he couldn’t seem to shake off was the alcohol and even then Pepper wasn’t sure if she should just let it slide because of how agreeable he was being.

An agreeable Tony Stark that didn’t try to piss her off every other minute? Christ, the apocalypse must be approaching. She’s managed to do ten times more paperwork for him in a couple of weeks than in the past years though, so for that upside she was thankful.

All good things had to come to an end and with the death of Obadiah Stane on her hands(no matter what Tony tells himself, she never once blame him for it. It was shocking to take away someone’s life this easily but that bastard had wanted to kill them and for that she’ll be happy to push the button over and fuckin’ over) and the palladium poisoning on his, Pepper had initially thought Fate would finally cut them some slack right until someone known as the Mandarin surfaced. 

Death wasn’t something she thought she’d have to deal with at 35 years old but the threat of it came too close for comfort this time. It was only thanks to sheer dumb luck that Extremis took to her body well enough for her to survive when Tony missed catching her and even with her overwhelming rage, she knew not to blame him for it. He didn’t have stretchy arms and the angle was all wrong but she knew he tried, though that was the last thing on her mind as she looked at the pile of ashes where Killian once stood, the whir and whine of her gloved fingers overlaying the sounds of burning wreckage behind them.

 

Still speechless and severely underdressed for the occasion, a scruffed up Pepper finally looked towards Tony, the eerie orange glow in her green eyes fading away to something more human.


End file.
